WRR-5501 Reporting Incorrect Drive Size in Windows

 

Applicable products: WRR-5501 servers

The objective of this document is to guide identifying the issue and provide instructions to correct the issue in which Windows OS is incorrectly recognizing the correct volume size of the RAID configured storage and to assist in the retention of existing video storage currently saved to said volume in WRR- 5501 server product.

 

 

 

To identify the issue:

 

For example, WRR-5501-24TB should have D:\ size of approximately 16TB.Please check the size of the D:\ and compare with the configuration ordered. Be sure to properly calculate the storage size with RAID-6 in mind. To calculate usable space for RAID-6, refer to the table to the right.

If the D:\ storage size matches the table, the server is not affected by the issue.

If the D:\ has significantly less capacity, please continue.

 

Backing Up Existing Video Archives

 

In order to retain video archives that currently reside on the incorrectly detected storage volume, the video data will need to be backed up to a temporary storage location.

Enable Storage Backup

 

1. Connect to your Wisenet WAVE system through the WAVE Desktop App, using an administrator
2. Attach a local temporary storage location directly to the Wisenet WAVE server or attach a network storage by clicking “Add External Storage…” and inputting the storage location’s network path and
3. Once the new storage location appears in the list of available storage locations, enable it by clicking on the switch to the (green = enabled)
4. Use the dropdown menu for the new storage volume to set it as the backup drive.

Setting Backup Options

 

1. Click on “Backup Settings…” in the “Backup Archive” portion of the Storage Management dialog window and set “Execute Backup” to “On Demand”.

 

2. Click “Backup Archive From” to select Cameras to backup footage (By default all devices are selected.)

3. Set “Backup Quality” to “All Streams” using the drop down

 

 

3. Once you click “Apply”, you will have the option to begin your backup by clicking “Start Backup Now”.

 

5. A progress bar will display current status of your storage backup followed by a prompt to announce completion of the storage

 

* IMPORTANT: Depending on the time it takes to back up, archives during the duration of the backup may not get copied to the Backup Drive and result in loss of data.

 

 

6. Upon completion of your video archive backup process, all video data that has been backed up will now be available in the temporary storage
7. Next step is to repair the Storage Before doing so, make the Backup Drive to “Main” and change the main Storage Volume to “Backup”, so that the archives can be stored in the temporary drive while the main Storage Volume is being repaired.

 

 

Repairing the Incorrectly Detected Storage Volume

 

Resolving this issue requires that the existing RAID enabled storage volume be rebuilt and rediscovered by Windows OS

NOTE: this process will erase all the recorded data and any other files stored on the drives. If you wish to back-up your recordings please follow the instructions provide prior, under: “Backing Up Existing Video Archives”

1. Using the MegaRAID Storage Manager, right-click on the virtual drive and select “Delete Virtual Drive”.

 

2. Confirm by checking the “Confirm” box in the resulting prompt and click “Yes”.

 

3. Right click on the Controller and select “Create Virtual Drive”.

 

4. Select “Advanced” to enable additional

 

5. Choose the desired RAID configuration from the dropdown (RAID 6 is recommended)
6. Select all available hard drives and click “Add”

7. Click “Create Drive Group”, ensuring that no drives remain under “Unconfigured Drives” and then “Next”.

 

8. Use the following settings in your Virtual Drive Settings:
   • Initialization state: Fast Initialization
   • Strip Size: 64KB
   • Read Policy: Always Read Ahead
   • Write Policy: Always Write Back

 

9. Click “Create Virtual Drive” and “Yes” to confirm your decision to use “Always Write Back” in your virtual drive

10. Click “Finish” to create the new Virtual Drive after reviewing the drive creation detail

11. Return to Windows Disk Management to verify that your RAID array is the correct The volume will be displayed as unallocated disk space. Follow the image below to initialize the disk.

 

12. Right-click on the unallocated disk space and select “New Simple Volume”.

13. Follow the Volume Wizard by clicking “Next” and “Finish” at the

 

14. Verify that Windows is now reading the virtual drive correctly through the Windows Disk

 

Returning Existing Video Archive from Backup to Primary Storage Location

 

Once the RAID array in your WRR-5501 system has been corrected, you may begin the process of returning video data from your temporary storage location to your primary drive volume.

 

 

1. Click “Start Backup Now” to begin transfer of video data from the temporary storage location to the primary storage

 

2. Once the data backup is complete, switch the Main and the Backup drives to make the primary storage as the Main and the temporary drive as
3. Click “Reindex Archive” to ensure that all video metadata is re-indexed by the Wisenet WAVE server You will be warned that the Hard disk load will increase significantly during this process. Click “OK” to continue.

2. All video data backed up previous to the rebuilding of the RAID array has been You may now disable the temporary storage location and remove it from your Wisenet WAVE system.